The latest dose of high-speed hedgehog platforming starts with Sonic rocking up to Dr Eggman's spangled new theme park and announcing to sidekick Tails that they've got to tear the place down because, 1) Eggman's involved so it's sure to be a no-good stunt, and 2) that's just what they do. Makes him sound like a lousy prickled killjoy, right? But to be honest, Dr Eggman's Interstellar Amusement Park (the setting for Sonic Colours) really doesn't feel like a superfun place to spend your free time.

As usual, the Sonic world is all cartoon enemies and whip-fast tracks that this time alternate between 3D and 2D. But it looks dull: tweak your telly's settings all you like, the game is stuck in a murky soup of sludge tones. That's mildly depressing in the 3D sections where Sonic is clearly front and centre, but when you jump into 2D, the view rescales and shrinks the sneaker-wearing beastie to an infuriating smudge of bluey-grey lost in a greyish background. This isn't just prissy moaning from HD-pampered eyes: the graphical shortcomings make the game less fun to play than it should be. "Where am I? Oh, on the [ringdingdingdingding] spikes."

The D-pad is usable but a little clumsy, especially in 3D; far better to execute your sweeping dodges and sideways leaps with the nunchuck. Spinning, jumping, ducking and grinding all feel good: something about the timing between stomp-attacking an enemy from above and hearing the cheerful "pop!" of his demise achieves a platonic ideal of robo-busting satisfaction. And there's a new power-up system with the Wisps, friendly aliens which Sonic can absorb to gain temporary abilities – like Laser, which makes everything go a bit Tron and lets you point and release the hedgehog as if controlling a cannon.

The jumps between dimensions never feel wholly persuasive. They're signposted so the transitions don't jar, but with Episode 4 already offering plenty of flat Sonic, it leaves the impression that Colours is just a little bit non-committal. It wants to be a 3D platformer, but it's scared you wouldn't love it if it changed completely. Still, there's a pleasing rhythm to the levels and they hang together nicely. Unlike the hub system, which is tangled like that drawer you keep all the cables in, with a Sonic Simulator (Wii only) where you collect Chaos Emeralds, a main hub and multiple sub-hubs. These last play interminable tween-trance at you as you pick your stage, causing unwelcome flashbacks to provincial nightclubs.

Sonic Colours never feels like a world you want to hang out in. There are smart ideas and neat challenges here, but in the end there's probably too much stuff and the untidy interface makes it hard to get at the goodies. Despite the sturdy gameplay, the lack of polish makes you wonder if Sonic Team is just like Sonic himself: doing this because this is what they do, rather than because there's any real reason to.